Angry

'He was loose in his enemy's rear, he was angry and he was ready to give the bastards a taste of hell on earth.'

Bernard Cornwell, "Sharpe's tiger", page 419

Price of glory

Last time I wrote about the use of historical figures in modern day action writing. The Knights Templars are frequently used, but so is Alexander the Great. Of course his life and achievements are amazing. He conquered more than the known world, discovered new places, won numerous battles and died at a young age. His legacy was quickly divided among his generals, his wife and son (born after his death) dead, the only thing remained his deeds.

‘Toil and risk are the price of glory, but it is a lovely thing to live with courage and die leaving an everlasting fame.’ Arrian wrote these famous lines, as they were supposedly said by Alexander himself.

This week, I finished “The Venetial betrayal” by Steve Berry. This book concentrates on two things: Alexander’s grave and a strange draught the Scythians gave him. This draught cured him from a fatal illness, but later failed to cure his friend (and lover?) Hephaestion due to a lack of it by the physician. Who of course paid for this indiscretion with his life.

Cotton Malone is dragged into the whole thing by his old friend Thorvaldsen, when the latter informs him that Cassiopeia needs his help. Cotton always is a gentleman, so he comes to the rescue. And gets sucked into an amazing adventure for Alexander’s tombe. But more important than Alexander’s tomb is this strange draught. It supposedly cures everything. There is some greedy businessman who found the draught. It entails Archaea bacteria, which preys on other bacteria and viruses. It can even cure aids. In short, it is the cure the whole world has been waiting for. But our slimy business man has been waiting for 20 years, to build up a market as he says himself. To make more money.

In the mix is also a very ambitious Supreme Minister from a non-existing Central Asian county. She wants to take over the whole Middle East, like Alexander used to do, only then East concurring West (and not vice versa as Alexander did). Her weapon: biological warfare. Her companion: the slimy business man.

Luckily for us, Cotton does not agree with these plans. And after action in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Venice, we end up in the mountains in our non-existing Central Asian country. In these mountains the slimy businessman found the draught, not knowing Alexander’s tomb is nearby. Of course Cotton finds both the cure and the tomb. And after some difficulty, Cassiopeia and he succeed. The slimy businessman and the ambitious Supreme Minister are not the only ones who die, but our hero and his friends go unharmed. The world is saved. Aids can be cured, Alexander’s tomb to be excavated. All is well that ends well.

A long while ago I read “The Alexander cipher” by Will Adams. Hugely entertaining. But this book has the same problem as the books concerning the Templars. Even now I can’t remember anything about the plot, the kind of action, even the name of the hero (at least, not without peeking). I assume it will be the same for Berry’s book about Alexander. These books are fantastic for a holiday, a train ride, just for entertainment. But they won’t have an everlasting fame.

Templars

What is it with men's never ending interest in the Knights Templar? Last night, while watching SyFy, dear hubby and I saw a rather bad, hinting on spectacular "findings", show called "Legend Quest" with Ashley Cole as host. Everything was so obvious staged, that it was almost annoying to look at. Cole was on a quest for the final resting place of the Arc of the Covenant and followed a trail from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, to Italy, to France. We entered the episode shortly before he arrived in Ethiopia, so I don't know how he got there. But the clue to continue the search in Italy was a double headed eagle painted in the search, and the form of the church (which represented a Templar's cross). So the Templars took the Arc from Ethiopia back to Italy. To Tuscany to be precise and to a specific castle which owners use/used the double headed eagle as armorial bearings. And of course there still is a Grand Master of the Templar Order and our dear Cole himself is also a member of this Order. And in the small church there was a hatch for an underground place which should be big enough to hide the Arc in. Sure. Right. The Grand Master points him to France, to Chartres. And in Chartres, in the middle of the maze, there is again a kind of hatch which should be great enough to hide the Arc. Despite an underground search, Cole does not reach the secret hiding place under the maze. But that should be where the Arc is located. Oh come on! There were holes as big as the Arc in his reasoning. I've seen better historical (scientific) shows on National Geographic. This is funny, but nowhere historical or scientific underpinned.


What started this? Oh yes, the Templars. In some way this order still fascinates a lot of people. We are talking about an order which was banned by the pope Clement V in 1312, but not after king Philip IV of France and the pope stripped them of all their wealth under false accusations. So that's 700 years ago!

Can we 'blame' Dan Brown for this? No, not really, although I do think he pushed the Templars back into the public eye. No, even before Brown, Tom Egeland wrote "Circle's end". Strangely enough, this book resembles Brown's "Da Vinci Code" quite a lot. So maybe Brown wasn't so original as people think. And before Egeland there were Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln with their "The holy blood and the holy grail". Not particularly a fiction book, but it deed concern the Templars. A banned order, it's members persecuted as heretics (and more), of course make the perfect background for an action filled book. And that is exactly what some authors write.

I have some of these books on my bookshelves. And yes, they always make a nice read. For instance: Steve Berry with "The Templar legacy" or Raymond Khoury with "The last Templar". I'm sure there are even more (even on my book shelves), but these I could easily locate. The sad thing about these books, however, is although I read them and enjoyed them, I cannot remember the plot or anything that happened. Yes, there was a lot of action and of course our hero saved the day, but that's all. And in some way that's very sad. Because I think that every author wants his book remembered for ever and not ending up in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

So yes, Templar can be easily used for a non-historical action book. But please, do take the audience serious.

Odds

It's been a busy week with not much opportunity for reading or writing about it. With my horse in the clinic (everything is okay), work, and dear hubby, the only time I had for reading was on the train and before going to sleep.


I did manage to finish "The Hungergames"-trilogy though. I'm not sure what to find about it. I did like the first book. It was new, foretold a gruesome kind of future and of course a kind of happy ending. It was clear however that the Capitol wouldn't appreciate Katniss's actions.

"Catching Fire" started out all right": the victory tour, the troublesome relation between Katniss, Gale and Peeta. It was all realistic until the Quarter Quell. Katniss, Peeta and a selection of previous victors are all enlisted to participate again in the Hunger Games. There is a side story about the rebellion which is getting more and more playground. In the end some victors are involved in the rebellion and save Katniss from the Games. Peeta is being left behind. This starts of a kind of irritating section of both books two and three where Katniss struggles with her sanity and prefers to hide in strange corners. Yes, of course it is very realistic to be shell shocked after all she has been through. And yes, both Snow and Coin take advantage of her. But just like the middle section of the last Harry Potter book, it gets annoying after a while. She has (verbal) fights with all most everybody: Gale, Finnick, to name a few; she ignores direct orders and does what she wants. There is no thinking about the consequences, even though people get hurt or die because of that. Yes, she does struggle with all the dead just by seeking a remote place and sit.



The strange thing is that all turns around once she is back in the Capitol for the final battle: rebels against Peacekeepers. Collins pictures it as being back in the arena during the Games. Katniss is able to shut down her emotions and do what she is best in: pissing off the enemy. But then her sister dies. You have to read that scene for yourself. A short conversation with Snow sets the whole scene in a different light: who is responsible for the death of her sister? Snow? Coin? Both? Would Snow use innocent children to finish off the war? We know that Snow used children in the Hunger Games to keep the population in check. So yes. Would Coin go that far too? Katniss outlived her usefulness for Coin: the Capitol was in rebel hands. And why was her sister there? Somebody high up in the rebel command must have cleared her participation. It could be that Coin used her sister to push her over the edge. In the end, Katniss believes Snow and kills Coin. Rightful? I'm not sure. Both sides were capable of atrocities during the war. Nobody could wash their hands clean.



In the course of the books characters die, it is a war after all. These include some characters you preferred having a happy ending. Like Finnick who was so happy being finally reunited with Annie. Like Cinna, like Prim, like Boggs. In a strange way it makes me happy that the cat of whom Prim was so fond – Buttercup – make it in the end. And that he and Katniss made peace. It is a kind of fitting end, that something from her past made it through alive.


All in all the three books make a good read. The story is convincing, realistic and writing in a good pace. If this by the way is anything like our future will be, I pass. It makes me wonder though, why so very often our future is depicted so grim and hopeless. Or is it because a bright, happy future doesn't sell any books or make good films?